22 December 2007
This is what happens when I'm not really inspired. I've been distracted and not doing much in the way of new designs for my shop. Besides, I think people would've finished their holiday shopping ages ago, so production has been slowing down. I'm not one for loud colour mixes (to me, they're not very wearable), so I did a couple of clustery type earrings in monochromatics:
Ho hum. Even the photo backgrounds are dull. But what I wanted to point out was the amount of wastage that went into these earrings...
Apatite is a relatively soft stone, measuring only 5 on Moh's scale. Some of the holes in these rondelles were too small for 26ga wire to fit through (which is annoying because the rondelles are about 4.5mm, not that tiny), so I managed to break a number of beads while trying to enlarge the holes while working on Andaman. I hate using a reamer on soft stones; I've also broken some tanzanite this way. But I had no choice. I finally ordered some 28ga pins but have been waiting forever for them to arrive!
As for Pleiades, one of the crystal quartz marquises I was using had been drilled a little too close to the top point. As such, the tip was quite weak, and after a couple of chips, completely broke off, leaving me with yet another unusable bead. However, I was really pleased at how they turned out in the end. Maybe I should keep a pair for myself. Then again, I'm not a big earring person. Literally.
There is something totally delicate and magical about bunches of shiny little gemstones tipped with shiny metal clustered together though... I have received some cool new supplies, so will be probably doing more of these in the near future... :)
Ho hum. Even the photo backgrounds are dull. But what I wanted to point out was the amount of wastage that went into these earrings...
Apatite is a relatively soft stone, measuring only 5 on Moh's scale. Some of the holes in these rondelles were too small for 26ga wire to fit through (which is annoying because the rondelles are about 4.5mm, not that tiny), so I managed to break a number of beads while trying to enlarge the holes while working on Andaman. I hate using a reamer on soft stones; I've also broken some tanzanite this way. But I had no choice. I finally ordered some 28ga pins but have been waiting forever for them to arrive!
As for Pleiades, one of the crystal quartz marquises I was using had been drilled a little too close to the top point. As such, the tip was quite weak, and after a couple of chips, completely broke off, leaving me with yet another unusable bead. However, I was really pleased at how they turned out in the end. Maybe I should keep a pair for myself. Then again, I'm not a big earring person. Literally.
There is something totally delicate and magical about bunches of shiny little gemstones tipped with shiny metal clustered together though... I have received some cool new supplies, so will be probably doing more of these in the near future... :)
1 comments:
- @ 24 December 2007 at 13:55 msbelle said...
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Well, I don't see what's dull about them! My gosh, they're beautiful. Give yourself a break!
I hear you about snapping the tops off of beads/brios. Done it too many times. I also can't stand when they're drilled crooked. Hard to get them to look even no matter if you cover them up with clusters. But sometimes that's all you can do. I once broke the most gorgeous labradorite smack in half! It apparently had a flaw and I didn't see it. Well, a little too much pressure when wrapping and the whole thing broke in half! Talk about bummed!
I need some 28 ga. headpins. I just usually bunch up the tip and make my own little squished up end, but the ball ends are so much nicer looking. Your jewelry is gorgeous. Just gorgeous.